Avery’s Wonderful Hypnobabies Hospital VBAC

I started having some PWs around 9 last night. Nothing too intense, so I thought they were just more Braxton Hicks. I was tired and decided to lay in bed and watch TV at around 10. PWs were still coming, but they weren’t that strong. At about 10:40, I felt a pop. I knew it was different than anything I had felt before. I laid there for a couple more minutes and stood up. Water just poured out. Called for my husband and he was able to come in and get a towel underneath me. He started to get a little frantic as I stood there laughing, pouring water out. We called my parents b/c they were coming to stay with Will since he was sleeping. The midwife had told me on Thursday that as long as I was at the hospital within a couple of hours, it should be fine (I had tested positive for Strep B and needed antibiotics administered during labor). My parents left right away and live an hour from our place.

As soon as my water broke, the PWs became stronger and more intense. I bounced around on my birthing ball, put my scripts on my IPod and got into hypnosis. I felt really good then. Lots of pressure, but no pain at all.

When my parents arrived at our house, we left and headed to the hospital. At this point, my PWs were every 3 to 4 minutes apart and getting stronger. While in the car, I continued listening to my scripts and turning myself “off”. We arrived at the hospital and got checked in. All the rooms were full and they were cleaning the room that I would be in, so they asked us to wait in the waiting room for a while. The nurse didn’t think I was very far along anyway b/c I was so calm. When we got into the room at 1am, she checked me and was pretty surprised to find out that I was at 6 and most likely in transition. My PWs were now every 2 minutes apart, but I was still able to stay in the groove of my hypnosis, which helped me so much. Rob and our doula were wonderful too, and I couldn’t have done it without them. They were talking me through each contraction, encouraging me and using my cue words to trigger me to relax. I labored mostly on my knees on the bed with my arms draped over the top b/c that’s what felt best. I also had the doula putting a lot of counter pressure on my back. I didn’t realize how hard I was having her do it, but after Avery was born, she said, “Man, I bet your back is going to be sore tomorrow. You kept telling me to press harder and harder.” I guess she was right b/c I actually have some bruising on my lower back today from it.

Because I was able to stay so calm, my birthing time progressed quickly. I was breathing deeply through each PW, making low tone sounds and keeping my jaw loose to help open me up. I asked if they would check me again at almost 3am and I was at 9 centimeters.

At 3:40, I felt my body starting to push by itself which was a crazy feeling b/c I wasn’t initiating the pushing, my body was just doing it on it’s own. The midwife checked me and said I was complete and could push when I wanted with my next contraction. The pushing felt SO good. It was like a huge release. I was on all fours pushing and got her worked down pretty far. Then I went into a squatting position and pushed some more. My legs were pretty shaky, so I had to move from that position pretty quickly. When she started to crown, I got on my back, pulled my legs out and pushed her the rest of the way out in that position. I was still using my hypnosis and cues, so I never felt the “ring of fire,” though I did have a small tear that required 2 stitches.

Avery Wynn was born at 4:26am after being in my hospital room for less than 3 & 1/2 hours. She immediately latched on to my breast and nursed for about 45 minutes. About an hour after she was born, they came and weighed and measured her while I went to the bathroom for the first time. She weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and is 20 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair and has stolen our hearts already. I can’t stop staring at her and she’s so alert and calm. She’s amazing.

After the delivery, the nurse kept going on and on about how she has never been a part of one like that before. It was fairly quiet, really calm and relaxing. No yelling, screaming or cussing. LOL She couldn’t believe how well my hypnosis worked and said she was bragging to all the other nurses about it. It just so happened to be her birthday too, which was pretty cool.

We are going to have to stay at the hospital for an extra 24 hours b/c since my labor went so quickly, I didn’t get as much antibiotics for the Strep B as they would have liked before I delivered. B/c of this, they took some of Avery’s blood today for testing and found her white cell count to be slightly elevated. They had to put in an IV to administer some antibiotics to her twice a day to get this regulated. They put it in her head and that just broke my heart. They said she took it like a champ though and never even woke up. They will test her blood again on Monday to make sure the white cell count has come down and as long as it’s okay, we will get to go home then. Pray that happens! We’re ready to take our girl home.

I’m feeling sore, but terrific. I had the “natural childbirth high” after my delivery and I never expected it to be that intense. The nurse told me that the adrenaline was coming, but WOW. I had so much energy and adrenaline that my teeth were literally chattering and my whole body was just shaking like a leaf. Crazy stuff! I’ve only slept 2 hours since I woke up yesterday morning to get ready for work at 6, so I’m going to try and get some rest tonight.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

I can’t say enough about Hypnobabies and how helpful it was during my birthing time. I truly don’t think my birth would have been anything like it was had I not taken the program. I got my VBAC and had a healing and transformative birth. What a blessing!